April Evalyn Short, the Fort Eisenhower spouse accused of stabbing her infant son to death in 2023, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder.
The negotiated plea subjects Short, 31, to a sentence of 20 years in prison, according to a news release from Tara M. Lyons, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. Short also faces financial penalties and a period of supervised release after serving her prison term.
“The plea agreement in this disturbing case represents a difficult but appropriate resolution to this tragic and shocking homicide,” Lyons said.
Short was accused of killing her 11-month-old son with a knife at the family’s home on post Nov. 15, 2023. She allegedly barricaded herself, the infant and her two other children in the home’s master bathroom. She sent a text message to her husband, a drill sergeant, who came home and found the 11-month-old wrapped in a shower curtain.
The plea agreement said Short killed the child “willfully, deliberately, maliciously and with malice aforethought,” according to the news release.
Short initially pleaded not guilty but withdrew the plea Tuesday, replacing it with a plea of guilty to the lesser included offense of second-degree murder.
A second-degree murder charge typically applies to murder with malicious intent that is not premeditated.
In an earlier ruling, a judge determined Short was competent to stand trial. She’d showed “worrisome symptoms of psychosis” upon arrival at a federal medical center, but stabilized after taking psychiatric medications.
U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall will schedule sentencing upon completion of a pre-sentence investigation by U.S. Probation Services, the release said.
The special agent in charge of the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s southeast field office, Steven Ausfeldt, said Short’s plea was a testament to the hard work of Army CID personnel, including the child forensic interview team.
The plea “is indicative of our commitment to ensure justice for victims of heinous crimes such as this,” Ausfeldt said.
“April Short will now have 20 years to think about her heinous actions,” said Paul Brown, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta. “This plea cannot undo that tragedy and loss, but brings another measure of justice to those who knew and loved the child during his short life.”
